David Farrier asked Smashing Pumpkins star Billy Corgan about his views on gay marriage - below is a transcript of Corgan's full statement:
"I think it’s pretty simple. You have two elements to gay marriage. You have the social aspect, which is “does the community recognise it as a social engagement”, and secondarily, “does the State or the Government recognise it as legal”.
"I think there’s no way the State or Government can justify why two people can’t go into a legal partnership that affords them equal benefits across the board. I don’t get that, and that always has been the crux of the argument in America. If two men and two women or a man and a woman want to get into a partnership, that’s really not really unusual. There is plenty of historical basis there to show that homosexual relationships have been a part of humanity since the beginning of time. It’s not like it just sort of cropped up all of a sudden.
"Now, the other aspect is to whether or not people socially want to accept that. That’s a different issue. But I think that it always starts with the legal issue and in America, where we have states that try and deny partners rights. Where people have bought a home together, say you have a lesbian couple, one of them dies, suddenly the family moves in, there’s no getting around that. I think people have the right to enter into civil unions.
"The moral argument, the religious argument, that really a lot of times is the smoke that covers up the real argument, is that people are being denied an essential right. If a man and a woman have a right to enter into a legal civil partnership then so should a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Everything else then becomes community standard. That’s a different issue. That takes time, debate. People have to learn from one another, social association and stuff like that. You’re not going to change. You know, I grew up with a bunch of racists in my family. You’re not going to change. But because Uncle Johnny was a racist, just because I show him something, he’s not going to stop being a racist overnight. He’s going to have to realise that for himself and that’s an epiphany. That’s what I’m saying. But I don’t get why the State gets off of denying people rights. I don’t get that.
"It becomes a political football. And then politicians start running with the political football. It’s a simple rights issue. I don’t get why it’s not recognised as such.
"Look, for anyone who’s uncomfortable – I’m not, obviously – for anyone who’s uncomfortable with alternative lifestyles, like one of my former girlfriends was a dominatrix. You know what I mean? I’ve grown up with all sorts of people: lesbians and gay men included. Transvestites. And for anyone who’s uncomfortable, as I said, that’s a social issue to work out amongst yourself.
"Now if you’re a religious person, your teachings tell you you must look at that person with compassion. And more than likely, almost everyone knows someone, or someone in their family, or their friends family, that is gay or lesbian. So if you can’t look at those people with compassion, you’re really doing yourself a disservice and your community a disservice, because they’re a part of your community, and they’re going to be a part of your community. You can have a very public debate about whether you want those values in your community, and whether those values are consistent with what you think your values are. But if you’re coming from a place of judgement you’re going to have a hard time making that argument because it’s not going to go away. It’s not going to go away.
"And in the world of social media, people are only going to organise even more so. And I think those are important arguments to have. It’s not a right or wrong, black or white, he-said-she-said issue; it is a community standard issue which always takes time to evolve. And we need to have more sophistication as a people on this planet when we deal with very sensitive issues.
"They’re issues close to my heart and it pains me when I see politicians creating moral arguments because they don’t want to deal with the real vote because they’re afraid of losing their right-wing or left-wing constituency. In America for example, we have Obama going way out of his way to appeal to the gay and lesbian community, but from my vantage point it looks like a pandering for votes. Now if he really believes that, great, but on the surface it looks like an awful pandering for votes. And then of course you have the right-wing reaction where then they start running around with the term “family values” – fucking bullshit code-word.
"That’s what I’m saying: for people who are uncomfortable with the issue, ask yourself whether you can accept it as a civil union. If you can recognise it as a civil union, and recognise the right as a civil union, then the moral argument, the social argument, can take place over a different period of time.
"But if you have, say, a very non-progressive man who’s in a marriage with a woman, do you have the right to tell a homosexual man he can’t be married to another man? Why would you deny him the same right you’ve been given? If you say it’s a moral issue, well give him that right so you have an even playing platform to then have the moral argument, or the social argument. But when you deny something to somebody you give yourself then they’re never going to listen to you, and then you’re never going to find an adaptability between your community standards, and then it becomes a bullshit thing and it’ll never go anywhere and then politicians start running in and playing for votes, and they trump up the flames and then it’s a bunch of bullshit."
Corgan was in New Zealand for a concert at Auckland's Vector Arena over the weekend.
3 News
source: newshub archive
